London Protest Against Austerity

On the 20th of June 2015 I was up early to meet up with my friends at Hastings Solidarity to get on one of the many coaches that were leaving from all over the country to start the journey to the People's Assembly Against Austerity March in London, a protest against the austerity measures brought in by the Conservative government. The people on the coach varied from seasoned protesters to people attending their first ever protest.

There were a few protests going on across the UK, but the London protest was the largest one with reports of numbers between tens of thousands right up to the protest organisers (protest group the People's Assembly), who said an estimated 250,000 people attended. Having stood in the middle of the road on a traffic island at the front of the march with all those people flowing past me, I could definitely believe the 250,000 people figure!!! :o

The London protest march began with a rally outside the Bank of England before marching to the Tories hiding place: the Houses of Parliament and taking over much of central London. I wanted to tag along, but being disabled it was just too far for me, so I just photographed the start of the protest.

Organised by the People's Assembly Against Austerity, the protest included anti-tory protesters, anti-war factions, anti-racism and anti-fascism groups, and demonstration about housing and proposed changes to strike laws.

The People's Assembly Against Austerity spokesperson: "We'll be assembling the demonstration in the heart of the City of London right on the doorstep of the very people who created the crisis in the first place, the banks and their friends in Westminster. We demand that the bankers and elite should pay for the crisis and not the vast majority who had nothing to do with it."

The energy at the protest was great and mostly peaceful, protesting does not always fix problems, but to me it's a great way of showing just how upset people are and getting our voices heard, whether people like the Conservative government wanted to listen or not! :)

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